CAPE TOWN - Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane has announced that Cape Town's so-called day zero has been pushed back by four days.

Maimane made the announcement at a press briefing with Mayoral Committee Member for Water Xanthea Limberg.

The City of Cape Town says water consumption was measured at 580 million litres per day last week, but Maimane says this has come down.

Maimane says over the past few days, consumption has dropped from the 580 million average to 540 million litres per day.

"This is great progress, but to truly defeat day zero, we need to aim to cut consumption to 450 million litres a day. While I celebrate the progress this week, I call on all residents to support the campaign to defeat day zero by cutting their consumption to below 50 litres per person per day."

He says day zero has been pushed back from 12 April to 16 April.

"I said that if we worked together we could demonstrate what is best about South Africans, our incredible resilience, and we could defeat day zero. This week, I could not be more proud of our city."

Maimane says their main priority is demand reduction and he's urging residents to use no more than 50 litres per day.

He has also announced that they have managed to secure 67 million litres of water per day for a period of 60 days from February. This supply will come from the Palmiet dam.

At the same time, he says drilling for aquifers has been accelerated and the process to begin desalination will continue.

WATER PRESSURE

The DA leader says residents will experience a drop in water pressure over the coming weeks, but should not panic.

"Residents will start to experience a noticeable drop in pressure for most of the day, and those in high-lying areas and in apartment blocks may have water service interruption for several hours at a time. People should not be alarmed or panic when this happens, and should plan accordingly."